Caution around the medium-term price and greater optimism in the long-term for the price of copper marked the sixth version of the Asia Copper Week 2017, which was held in between November 28st and December 1st in Shanghai. The most important meeting of world leaders in the mining industry, organized by the Center for Copper and Mining Studies (CESCO) and the Chinese Nonferrous Industry Association (CNIA) gathered more than 1,800 people. There where representatives from 65 companies related to this sector and 21 of them are companies that attend for the first time to this already traditional event.

The following is a summary of what happened in China through the impressions of some participants attending this great international event:
Alejandra Wood, Executive Director of CESCO, hostess of Asia Copper Week: “In general, the panel of experts that opened the Asia Copper Conference organized by Metal Bulletin along with Minmetals and Cesco, predicted a price around USD 3 per pound of copper for 2018-2019. These forecasts are mainly based on physical supply and demand, as long as there are no interruptions in the offer. It is estimated that the market is balanced and if this continues, there should not be large price variations in the coming years”. “We are more than happy since this time we received copper leaders and saw the addition of representatives of the gold and nickel”.

“For investment in the Chilean sector to be re-activated, it will be necessary for the price to rise by 3 dollars per pound, as it was mentioned at the conference. Otherwise, there will be many projects that will not succeed given that our deposits are mature and require large investments to maintain or increase their production. Undoubtedly, we will have to work hard to streamline the entire permit process, which also impacts the investment decision”.

“Among the main challenges mentioned were the operational issues given the development stage of our mineral deposits, and in the case of the Chinese smelters, new environmental laws; productivity, the impact on the environment, efficiency in the allocation of capital and innovation in general. In other words, how mining will relate to the 4.0 economy so that copper can truly be one of the protagonists in the decarbonisation of the economy and electromobility”.

Oscar Landerretche, Chairman of the board, CODELCO: “That the copper cathodes stop being a commodity and have a higher price to be paid for those obtained respecting the environment and rationalizing the water or the rights of the communities. I call this process of radical change in the mining industry: Responsible, sustainable, treatable copper (CoReST), but to translate it into Chinese it can be called “Copper’s Feng Shui””.

Zhu Min, Head of the National Financial Research Institute of Tsinghua University (NIFR), keynote speaker of Asia Copper Dinner where he referred to the One Belt, One Road initiative: “We are looking for allies that want to join us to find collaborative and innovative solutions to build a future in which this initiative works for all”.

After this meeting, CESCO is already organizing the next version of Cesco Week Santiago, to be held in between April 9th-13th, 2018. Tickets for Cesco Dinner 2018 are now available. For further information visit http://www.cesco.cl/cescoweek2018/